One Missing, Five Found
The Town of Albion You arrive in the town of Albion, the rocky face of the Adamar Mines protects it from the harsher winds and pristine mountain water flows beside the small town leaving the air smelling of fresh snow and earth. "A small town like this, probably doesn't even have an inn, you lot can do as you like, I'm off to secure myself a bed for the night" And with that Denwen saunters off past the market place that presents it self to you at what appears to be some kind of town square. Pelts, clothing, fish, a barber, and pursemaker all take their place, haggling with the largely elven populace. A Worried Mother - Cybl When ever the players enter whichever tavern they see a sobbing elven woman, not even a woman, pleading to the bartender. "Please, my son, he's all I've got. You must know someone who can help me?" "My boy, my only family, he's all I've got, he's been missing since last night, I woke up this morning and he was gone. Please you've got to help me!" "Please if you could help me, if you find him, anything, I'll give you anything!" "He's just a boy, Dawon only 40, this tall, he's got the reddest hair you've ever seen. brown eyes, mottled cheeks covered freckles. Please, if you find anything out, I live next door to the butcher. Thank you!" Investigation, he was near the old mine entrance Heart and Sole - superstition Levre is a superstitious old gnome, if asked about the mines he'll tell you they're the base for a cult, a group of renegade elves making deals with strange forest sprites, they all worship the nightmare stag. He takes children in their sleep to do his evil bidding, they hate all order and light. Some say he's just a tall tale parents tell their children to stop them playing in the woods, but I know he's real. He's out there. I know it. Bar Master - creatures The mines? Oh yes all sorts of strange goings on in there. Owned by a merchants guild in the city, in Alione. They've got branches everywhere. The entrance closer to town though, not been used for years, caved in I thought, I'm no historian but I know they struck a ruby vein with a western entrance, good for business keeping them just far away enough that we dont have to deal with all that noise but still get their coin ! Have heard of a lot of strange creatures coming out of Adamar though, things that got no right being there you know? But, what do I know eh? Fishwife - horrible noises, probably just tunnels howling The mines? Oh yes, horrid place, terribly noisy, its all that wind travelling through howling all hours of the night, of course its just wind, a massive cave of course its going to make strange noises, anyone who says other wise is feeding off pure hearsay! The Other Woman - Olivia You come across a sobbing woman in the square, holding a small ragdoll. "It's my son, he's been missing for a week now, no one's seen anything. I fear the worst" "Brown hair, long, he'd never let me cut it, tiny nose, eyes too big but he was perfect and now. Oh god what am I going to tell his father. I'm a terrible mother." "I want to come with you. If Cybl's boy is missing too, I can't let her go through this, and who knows. Maybe I'll find Flynn." Adamar Mines You manage to find a narrow, nearly hidden entrance to a cave, travelling down the dark tunnel it slowly begins to wind into the ground and you can hear what sounds like a young boy crying out for help. As the players get closer, or with a good perception/listen check from a greater distance, the party hears that it isn’t one child’s voice, it is five. And the voices, while the words differ, sound disturbingly similar. Five Found As the party moves deeper into the winding cave, a wavering red light shines in the distance. Following the light leads to them to a circular room. A cauldron filled with roiling red liquid hangs over an open flame. Both the hot liquid and fire light up the room, showing five figures, each one chained to a different pillar made of stone. All five of the figures look exactly the same: a young, frightened, desperate child asking for help. All five claim to be the real child and say the other four are evil mages using magic to disguise themselves. The chains that hold each of the children are long enough for each of them to reach each other, but all of them remain close to the pillar they are chained to. They all appear weathered, their faces and clothes dirty from days without cleaning them. They all appear dehydrated and hungry. If the party makes a search check they see the bones of the other child in the fire, Olivia is in ruins. She tries to reach into the fire to retrieve her sons bones but only sustains sever burns. Solution All five children look the same and sound the same, but they do not act the same. They all say they are the real child and the other four are mages. One of children has self-preservation as their top priority. The other four have escaping as their top priority, even if it means leaving or murdering the other four. Once freed, the mage or mages that escaped can rain destruction down upon the world, giving your campaign a new antagonist to exist in the background when you need a plot device or something done, or as a main contender in the story. As always, it’s up to you as the GM to decide. If the players chose the real child, the mages will do whatever it takes to escape, since players and the mages can cast spells. You can give the mages some sort of disadvantage for being chained (perhaps a spell failure chance). The mages will go as far as collapsing the cave so no one can escape, and then fighting the players. Since the mages do not need to eat or breathe, they can reopen the cave if they win. Nightmare Stag As you make your way back you feel reality shift and you're bodies freeze. All light drains and the edges of things become blurry but luminescent. A deer standing easily two meters tall treds into view, between its antlers floats this symbol in a harsh crimson. The deer appears earthly in this ethereal plane, other than it's skull, bare of flesh or muscle, until its stands onto its back legs. Its front legs extend far past its hips and hooves transform into monstorous claws, it grows several feet. It's new skeletal form speaks to you, though you see no mouth nor movement as if to suggest speech. "You have done well. To free my serfs. And free them again, my power grows. You can not prevent what is to come, feel no guilt in knowing this. I will be watching" And with that he disapates into embers, the embers to ash, and the ash to nothing. The inky plane disolves and you are brought back into yourselves, unsettled feeling as if you've just woken up from a long sleep. NPCs Cybl Fernanda Mother, fantine situation, lives in a dump of a house next to the butcher, the stench of lard and blood seeps through the walls. Dawon is all she has in the world. Dawon Fernanda Small boy, really doesn't want to die, doesn't remember much. Olivia Parris Lost her son a week ago, husbands a miner. Not the most well off but lives off her husbands earnings. Mage's AC: 10 HP: 10 Spells: 0: 6 * Acid Splash * Delipatory (removes hair) * Ray of Frost * Daze * Prestidigitation * Flare 1: 5 * Block the Seed * Share Sensation * Ray of Emfeeblement * Magic Missile * Burning Hands